Stacks

Bitcoin bulls’ run toward $45K could produce tailwinds for UNI, OP, TIA and STX

Bitcoin bulls could make a strong push to get BTC through the $45,000 resistance this week. Will UNI, OP, TIA and STX follow?

The S&P 500 Index (SPX) achieved its highest close of the year last week, and Bitcoin (BTC) also hit a new 52-week high, indicating that risky assets remain strong going into the final few days of the year.

Some analysts believe Bitcoin is done with its rally in the short term and may roll over. Popular analyst and social media commentator Matthew Hyland cautioned in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that a drop in Bitcoin’s dominance below 51.81% could signal that the uptrend has ended “along with a likely top put in.”

Usually, the first leg of the rally of a new bull market is driven by the leaders, but after a significant move, profit-booking sets in and traders start to look at alternative opportunities. Although Bitcoin has not rolled over, several altcoins have started to move higher, signaling a potential shift in interest.

Improving Bitcoin NFT marketplace infrastructure sets the stage for ecosystem growth

Bitcoin NFT inscription activity continues to rise and the launch of new BTC specific marketplaces could lay the groundwork for the next hype cycle.

Bitcoin NFT inscription activity has remained strong with consistency in the daily number of NFTs inscribed on Bitcoin. At the same time, the infrastructure to foster Bitcoin trading is finally coming together with the development of wallets and marketplaces supporting Ordinals.

NFT marketplaces, Gamma and Magic Eden, added support for Bitcoin NFTs this week. While the initial response of traders has been subdued, the activity is expected to pick up soon.

Improving the infrastructure around Bitcoin NFTs

Bitcoin NFTs, also-known-as Ordinals, began with much fanfare in late January as they enhanced the utility and revenue of the Bitcoin blockchain.

Dune dashboard from data analyst dgtl_assets shows that the Ordinals inscription activity remains robust, with nearly 580,000 NFTs inscribed in less than three months.

*Cumulative sum and number of daily BTC NFTs inscribed. Source: Dune*

While the daily inscription activity is vigorous, the trading volume of Bitcoin NFTs is still muted, which can be primarily attributed to the absence of Bitcoin wallets and supporting marketplaces.

Ordinals require a specially designed Bitcoin wallet that recognizes content files on discernable satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin, and facilitates its transfer. Hiro and Xverse are the leading wallet providers in the space.

Mark Hendrickson, the product lead at Hiro, told Cointelegraph that the “active users for the wallet are up significantly in general this year, around 350%.” The activity picked up significantly since February, thanks to the Ordinals hype.

On the other hand, Xverse added Bitcoin NFT support on February 15.

So far, the Xverse Chrome browser extension has been downloaded on over 10,000 browsers, with Hiro’s download numbers surpassing 90,000. The Hiro wallet enjoys an advantage here as it was initially designed for the Stacks blockchain, a Bitcoin sidechain that supports smart contract ability.

Marketplaces come together

Since March 19, there has been considerable improvement in the space, with two leading marketplaces, Gamma and Magic Eden, beginning to support Ordinals trading on March 20 and March 22. So far, the marketplaces have met with a soft opening with less than $1 million in trading volume on both venues.

In comparison, OpenSea has facilitated more than $10 million in daily trading volume on Ethereum NFT trades alone on most days in the first quarter of 2023.

Gamma users have completed around 182 Bitcoin NFT purchases since launch. Whereas Magic Eden has done close to 18.94 BTC (worth around $530,000) volume since launch, with the Bitcoin DeGods collection dominating volumes by 67%.

Additionally, Hendrickson noted that Magic Eden enjoys an advantage in “the cross-protocol department given that they’ve previously rolled out support for Solana, Ethereum and Polygon. This could help serve cross-chain trading needs faster, especially as demand increases for moving liquidity across chains to access their various NFT markets.”

*Bitcoin Ordinals top collections on Magic Eden. Source: Magic Eden*

At the same time, he noted that “Gamma has an advantage among Ordinals marketplaces given their deep focus on Bitcoin-based technologies.” Data provided by Hendrickson shows that the number of Hiro users interacting with Gamma surged significantly to around 2,144 weekly users as the hype around Bitcoin NFTs kicked off.

*Number of Hiro clients that connected their wallets to Gamma. Source: Hiro*

The Bitcoin NFT trading activity is expected to pick up. Ordinals provide superior security guarantees than NFT ecosystems elsewhere. The digital media file of Ordinals is stored directly on the Bitcoin blockchain and enjoys the same security guarantees as regular BTC transfers. Whereas other ecosystems like Ethereum store the content file of the NFT on third-party storage solutions like AWS and IFPS. Hendrickson noted, “Their long-term durability is a huge advantage.”

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Crypto market cap reclaims $1T, and derivatives point to further upside

Bitcoin’s performance has outpaced Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway over the past six months, with crypto markets appearing to have turned a corner.

The total crypto market capitalization increased by 26% in seven days, reaching $1.16 trillion on March 17. Bitcoin (BTC) was the biggest winner among the top 20 coins, up 31.5%, though some altcoins gained 50% or more during the period.

*Total crypto market cap in USD, 12-hour. Source: TradingView*

The surge in cryptocurrency prices occurred as the United States Federal Reserve was forced to lend banks $300 billion in emergency funds. According to PBS NewsHour, nearly half of the money went to failed financial institutions Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and was used to pay uninsured depositors. The remaining $153 billion was obtained through a long-standing program known as the “discount window,” which allows banks to borrow funds for up to 90 days.

While appearing to protect the banking sector, additional funding for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and credit facilitation using Fed resources ultimately creates a “false sense of confidence,” according to activist billionaire investor Bill Ackman.

The $30 billion plan devised by U.S. regulators to avoid a major liquidity crisis in First Republic Bank “raised more questions than it answers,” said Ackman, who manages the hedge fund Pershing Square. Furthermore, Ackman stated that “half measures don’t work when there is a crisis of confidence.”

Billionaire Warren Buffett is on the losing side of the bet

As the banking crisis worsened, Warren Buffett, the co-founder and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway — a $650 billion financial conglomerate — saw his holdings rapidly deteriorate. Berkshire Hathaway, for example, is the largest holder of Bank of America stock, which has fallen 15.5% year-to-date. This position alone has cost Buffett’s investment vehicle $5.2 billion.

Buffett, a well-known cryptocurrency critic, has stated that he has no interest in Bitcoin, even if the entire float is offered at $1,300. The 91-year-old, with a net worth of around $102 billion, claimed that Bitcoin doesn’t produce anything whereas farmland and residential real estate do.

However, Bitcoin’s price increased by 31.5% in the six months preceding March 17, while Berkshire’s stock increased by 5.8%. So, for the time being, the so-called “rat poison” — as Buffett once described Bitcoin — is outpacing his own financial management firm.

$1 trillion market capitalization support quickly restored

Let’s look at the performance of the top 80 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization to see if the surge above the $1 trillion mark has boosted the confidence of altcoin investors.

*Weekly winners and losers among the top 80 coins. Source: Messari*

Conflux’s CFX gained 97.6% after KuCoin Ventures announced a $10 million investment in stablecoin issuer and blockchain-based payment service provider CNHC, which is available on the Ethereum and Conflux networks.

Stacks’ STX (STX) rallied 75.7%, as the network is scheduled to undergo an upgrade on March 20 introducing Stacks 2.1, with new features and improvements.

Immutable X’s IMX rose 71.7% following a much-anticipated announcement of an upcoming partnership reveal scheduled for March 20.

Options traders are extremely confident about market conditions

Traders can gauge the market’s sentiment by measuring whether more activity is going through call (buy) options or put (sell) options. Generally speaking, call options are used for bullish strategies, whereas put options are for bearish ones.

A put-to-call ratio of 0.70 indicates that put option open interest lags behind the greater number of call options. In contrast, a 1.40 indicator favors put options, which is a bearish sign.

*BTC options volume put-to-call ratio. Source: Laevitas*

Since March 12, the demand for neutral-to-bullish call options has increased, indicating the growing risk appetite of derivatives traders. The movement peaked on March 17, when the volume of call options exceeded the volume of protective put options by a 3:1 ratio.

The gap favoring call options has stabilized at 2:1, indicating that professional investors are unconcerned following the March 17 rejection of the $1.16 trillion market capitalization level. In the end, data indicates a strong conviction for Bitcoin’s support at $26,000, so bulls are in a stronger position to continue their rally.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

EOS, STX, IMX and MKR show bullish signs as Bitcoin searches for direction

BTC price is attempting to stage a recovery, while EOS, STX, IMX and MKR are beginning to flash bullish signals.

The United States equities markets made a strong recovery this week but Bitcoin (BTC) failed to follow suit. This means that cryptocurrency investors stayed away and could be worried by the ongoing problems at Silvergate bank. These fears could be what is behind the total crypto market capitalization dropping to nearly $1 trillion.

The behavior analytics platform Santiment said in a report on March 5 that there was a “huge spike of bearish sentiment,” according to their bullish versus bearish word comparison Social Trends chart. However, the firm added that the “kind of overwhelmingly bearish sentiment can lead to a nice bounce to silence the critics.”

*Crypto market data daily view. Source:* *Coin360*

Another short-term positive for the crypto markets is the weakness in the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which fell by 0.70 in the past 7 days. This suggests that crypto markets may attempt a recovery over the next few days. As long as Bitcoin remains above $20,000, select altcoins may outperform the broader markets.

Let’s study the charts of Bitcoin and the four altcoins that are showing promise in the near term.

BTC/USDT

Bitcoin plummeted below the $22,800 support on March 3. Buyers tried to push the price back above the breakdown level on March 5 but the long wick on the candlestick suggests that bears are trying to flip $22,800 into resistance.

The 20-day exponential moving average ($23,159) has started to turn down and the relative strength index (RSI) is below 44, indicating that bears are trying to solidify their position. Sellers will try to sink the price below the support at $21,480. If they can pull it off, the BTC/USDT pair may retest the vital support at $20,000.

If bulls want to prevent the downside, they will have to quickly thrust the price above the 20-day EMA. Such a move will suggest aggressive buying at lower levels. The pair may then rise to $24,000 and thereafter rally to $25,250. A break above this resistance will indicate a potential trend change.

*BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

The moving averages are turning down on the four-hour chart and the RSI is near 39. This indicates that bears have the upper hand. If the price turns down from the 20-dayEMA and breaks below $21,971, the pair may retest the support at $21,480.

Instead, if bulls drive the price above the 20-EMA, it will suggest that the bears may be losing their grip. The pair could then climb to the 50-day simple moving average. This is an important level for the bears to defend because a break above it may open the gates for a rally to $24,000.

EOS/USDT

EOS (EOS) broke above the vital resistance of $1.26 on March 3 but the bulls could not sustain the higher levels. However, a positive sign is that the price has not dropped below the 20-day EMA ($1.17).

The gradually upsloping moving averages and the RSI in the positive zone indicate advantage to the bulls. The EOS/USDT pair has formed a rounding bottom pattern that will complete on a break and close above the $1.26 to $1.34 resistance zone. This reversal setup has a target objective at $1.74.

The important support to watch on the downside is the 50-day SMA ($1.10). Buyers have not allowed the price to tumble below this support since Jan. 8, hence a break below it may accelerate selling. The next support on the downside is $1 and then $0.93.

*EOS/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

The bears pulled the price below the 20-EMA but a minor positive is that bulls have not allowed the pair to slide to the 50-SMA. This suggests that lower levels continue to attract buyers. If the price rises above the 20-EMA, the bulls will again try to clear the hurdle at $1.26. If they do that, the pair may surge to $1.34.

This positive view could invalidate in the near term if the price turns down and breaks below the 50-SMA. That may extend the fall to $1.11.

STX/USDT

Stacks (STX) rallied sharply from $0.30 on Feb. 17 to $1.04 on March 1, a 246% rise within a short time. Typically, vertical rallies are followed by sharp declines and that is what happened.

The STX/USDT pair plunged to the 20-day EMA ($0.69), where it is finding buying support. The 50% Fibonacci retracement level of $0.67 is also close by, hence the bulls will try to protect the level with vigor. On the upside, the bears will try to sell the rallies in the zone between $0.83 and $0.91.

If the price turns down from this overhead zone, the sellers will again try to deepen the correction. If the $0.67 cracks, the next support is at the 61.8% retracement level of $0.58.

Contrary to this assumption, if buyers thrust the price above $0.91, the pair may rise to $1.04. A break above this level will indicate a possible resumption of the uptrend. The pair may then rally to $1.43.

*STX/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

The four-hour chart shows that the 20-EMA is sloping down, and the RSI is in negative territory, indicating that bears have a slight edge. Sellers are likely to defend the moving averages during pullbacks. They will try to maintain their hold and sink the price to $0.65 and then to $0.56. The bulls will try to fiercely defend this support zone.

The first sign of strength will be a break and close above the 50-SMA. The pair may then rise to $0.94 and later to $1.04.

IMX/USDT

ImmutableX (IMX) rebounded off the 50-day SMA ($0.88) on March 3 and closed above the 20-day EMA ($1), indicating solid demand at lower levels.

The IMX/USDT pair could rise to $1.12 where the bears will again try to stall the recovery. If buyers bulldoze their way through, the pair could accelerate toward the stiff overhead resistance at $1.30. This is a crucial level to keep an eye on because a break and close above it may signal the start of a new uptrend. The pair may then soar to $1.85.

Contrarily, if the price turns down from the current level or $1.12, it will suggest that the bears have not yet given up. Sellers will then again try to sink the pair below the 50-day SMA and gain the upper hand. If they succeed, the pair could slump to $0.63.

IMX/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The four-hour chart shows the price is oscillating between $0.92 and $1.12. Usually, in a range, traders buy near the support and sell close to the resistance. The price action inside the range could be random and volatile.

If the price rises above the resistance, it suggests that the bulls have overpowered the bears. The pair may then rally toward $1.30. On the contrary, if bears sink the price below $0.92, the pair may turn negative in the near term. The support on the downside is at $0.83 and next at $0.73.

MKR/USDT

After a short-term pullback, Maker (MKR) is trying to resume its up-move. This suggests that the sentiment remains positive and traders are viewing the dips as buying opportunities.

The upsloping moving averages and the RSI in the positive territory indicate that the path of least resistance is to the upside. If buyers sustain the price above $963, the MKR/USDT pair may start its journey to the $1,150 to $1,170 resistance zone.

If bears want to stall the bullish trend, they will have to pull the price below the 20-day EMA ($807). If they manage to do that, stops of several short-term traders may be hit. The pair may then decline to the 50-day SMA ($731).

MKR/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The pair had been trading between $832 and $963 for some time but the bulls are trying to kick the price above the range. The 20-EMA has turned up and the RSI is in the positive territory, indicating that bulls are in command.

If the price sustains above $963, the pair may attempt a rally to the target objective of $1,094. On the other hand, if the price turns down sharply below $963, it will suggest that the breakout may have been a bull trap. That could extend the consolidation for a while longer.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Stacks (STX) surges as Bitcoin NFT hype grows, but its blockchain activity raises concern

The possibility of hosting Bitcoin NFTs on Stacks pushed STX price to new yearly highs, but there are concerns on whether the bullish thesis becomes reality.

Stacks is one of the first blockchains to enable a way for minting Bitcoin (BTC) Ordinals, which puts it in an excellent position to benefit from the hype. However, Ordinals have invoked an issue from the past where Bitcoin maximalist ideologies will be tested if the NFTs lead to network congestion.

On top of that, Stacks has yet to deliver all the functionalities required to support an NFT trading ecosystem and it faces competition from projects in other blockchain ecosystems. The fundamental and technical analysis of the project suggests that the price surge might have reached overbought conditions and may correct in the near term.

Ordinals development is unpredictable for now

The recent focus on inscribing NFTs on the Bitcoin network peaked in the last month after Casey Rodarmor inscribed an Ordinal on Jan. 29. While the trend took off to an overwhelming start, the minting is limited to technical users with a Bitcoin node and trading primarily takes place through OTC channels.

In comparison to Ethereum NFT marketplaces, the infrastructure for Bitcoin NFT trading remains significantly underdeveloped in regards to complex activities like decentralized trading. Many investors have expressed their belief that there needs to be a way to spin up marketplaces and NFT minting platforms for Ordinals.

The Bitcoin developer community has previously discouraged using the network for anything other than payments because it clogs the space and increases transaction fees. In the bull run of 2020 and 2021, many Ethereum users paid hundreds of dollars in fees per transaction as user activity on it exploded. On the other hand, Bitcoin’s fees stayed at optimum levels throughout the bull run, but the usage and earnings of the protocol lagged behind Ethereum.

According to a CoinShare report, the adoption of Ordinals will again be subject to the social acceptance of the method to inscribe additional data on the Bitcoin blockchain, which is bound to present challenges such as network congestion and increased fees.

The report goes on to review previous failed attempts to use the Bitcoin blockchain for smart contract activity, saying that “similar projects of Bitcoin’s past have had little impact on investors and users alike.”

The number of Ordinals inscribed on Bitcoin surged significantly at the start of February as the instrument exploded. However, the trend slowed down due to a lack of trading infrastructure, with less than 10,000 NFTs inscribed on most days.

Stack blockchain’s native STX (STX) token jumped by 256% in February, thanks to hype around Bitcoin NFTs and an upcoming upgrade to the project.

Number of ordinals inscribed on Bitcoin daily. Source: Dune

It remains to be seen how the Bitcoin community reacts to an increase in network congestion and Bitcoin fees if the Ordinals hype grows.

Stacks price rises on speculation, while activity is low

The idea is that Stacks will make Bitcoin Ordinals more accessible to users by facilitating minting processes and hosting marketplaces.

Stacks Foundation, the team managing the blockchain, on Feb. 22 announced a new upgrade to the protocol, Stacks 2.1, which seeks to improve the blockchain by adding EVM compatibility and synthetic Bitcoin (sBTC) through a secure bridge to Bitcoin.

On top of that, the .BTC naming service lives on the Stacks network, which could generate a lot of trading activity if the demand for .BTC addresses increases. In its current state, a .BTC Stacks address is largely detached from the Bitcoin network. Meaning, users cannot send and receive Bitcoin at these addresses like its .ETH counterpart.

After the 2.0 upgrade, Stacks will enable direct sending of Stacks assets to Bitcoin addresses. It will enable proxy access to the Bitcoin blockchain without creating a separate Stacks address. It remains to be seen if Bitcoin users find the feature attractive.

While the upgrades sound promising, there’s still insufficient blockchain activity to justify the STX price surge. Only around 1,000 unique active wallets engaged with DApps on Stacks in February. The most striking part of Stack’s usage data was that the NFT marketplace Gamma also failed to attract considerable users to its platform, with less than 100 wallets trading daily on the marketplace.

Top used dApps on Stacks between Jan. 28 and Feb. 27. Source: DappRadar

Gamma supports minting and sending Bitcoin ordinal NFTs via Stacks. However, many users have faced UX-related problems while using the feature, as it requires a separate address in a Stacks wallet that is Ordinal compatible. Many users have mistakenly sent their NFTs to wrong addresses. The wallet issue has also restricted the trading of Bitcoin NFTs.

Gamma NFT marketplace stats. Source: DappRadar

Developers in the Stacks ecosystem, like the Xverse team, are working on a wallet to bring user-friendly Ordinals support. There’s also an experiment with atomic swaps between Bitcoin NFTs and STX in the works. The aim is to develop this functionality into a complete marketplace.

However, other ecosystems are also looking to bank on this trend. For instance, Ordinex is developing an Ordinals trading platform, which will be accessible for Ethereum users through Metamask. Some Ethereum native projects, like OnChainBirds and SappySeals, have also inscribed the NFTs on Bitcoin and enabled trading on OpenSea. However, the trading activity of these collections remains average, with little hype.

Besides Stacks, many other ecosystems are trying to bank on the opportunity by facilitating Bitcoin NFTs. While Stacks enjoys a technical advantage over others, Ethereum has a loyal user base and adequate liquidity to outperform Stacks’ ecosystem if a feasible solution emerges. Moreover, in the end, it will depend on the response and demand of these NFTs from the Bitcoin community, which may not support euphoria around it.

STX/USD reaches key resistances zones

The STX token dilutes at the rate of 2.5% annually. The inflation will reduce after the Bitcoin halving, which is expected to occur in April 2024. The rate of supply increase of STX is low compared to other layer-1 blockchains like Solana and Cardano, which is encouraging. However, the network’s total fees or token economics do not balance the inflation, which needs to change soon.

Technically, the STX/USD pair is near the top of its two-year trading range at $1.02, which is a potential yellow flag for buyers. If bulls are able to overcome this level, STX can possibly take a shot at the all-time highs near $3.00. However, given that network activity doesn’t correlate to the price rise as of yet, there’s a chance of a pullback toward $0.68 and $0.24.

STX/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Similarly, the STX/BTC pair is also near its all-time range of 0.00004350 BTC, which raises the possibility of a correction once those levels are tagged. The downside targets of STX are at 0.00002744 BTC and 0.00001233 BTC.

STX/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

Bitcoin NFTs have a lot of potential, but it is still unclear if the Bitcoin community, which is usually against speculation and activities that clog the network, will allow the trend to prosper.

Currently, the most crucial aspect of NFT trading — an easily accessible marketplace and wallet — is still missing from the Ordinals ecosystem. As a Bitcoin sidechain, Stacks enjoys technical advantages with Bitcoin integration and it has a slight advantage over other blockchains in providing the tools to support an Ordinals craze.

However, the applications to support Ordinals are still in development. Meanwhile, Stacks faces competition from other more liquid ecosystems, which could develop more feasible solutions to integrate Bitcoin NFTs on their chain.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin is the perfect settlement layer to build apps on top of: Hiro CEO

Bitcoin programmability may also help further drive Bitcoin adoption as both a technical and financial layer in our society, which in turn may “drive up the price” over the long term.

While the Bitcoin network isn’t programmable, it serves as an excellent settlement layer to build robust applications on top, says Hiro CEO Alex Miller.

Hiro provides Bitcoin development tools for developers to build on the Stacks blockchain. Miller said Stacks inherits the Bitcoin network’s security through a consensus mechanism called proof-of-transfer (although this is a controversial statement for some).

Miller told Cointelegraph that the value proposition behind building programs on top of Bitcoin is that it’s a “really well settled, well accepted, very trustworthy settlement layer.”

He added that because of this, it’s a much simpler blockchain to build on top compared to most other smart contract platforms which do computation and settlement on the same layer:

“When you have both your settlement and your computation on the same layer, it really complicates things in a lot of ways. […] You don’t want to be modifying your settlement layer that much.”

That enables developers to “do more innovation more quickly” on a layer 2, which “has far, far more robust capabilities.”

Miller claimed that we shouldn’t be surprised that developers are making Bitcoin programmable, as that’s what Satoshi Nakomoto envisioned:

“Satoshi himself wrote back in like 2010, 2011, that he foresaw additional layers [and] additional chains will get built on top of this, to provide all of that kind of programmability.”

Miller said the Stacks developer ecosystem has grown rapidly since the platform’s launch in January 2021, “we’ve got hundreds of developers who are working in the ecosystem, and thousands of smart contracts and applications that have been deployed on it.”

Within the first year of launch, the Stacks blockchain achieved more than 350 million monthly API requests, 40,000 Hiro wallet downloads and deployed 2,500 Clarity smart contracts, with those figures increasing further in 2022.

Miller also said that we’ll live in a “multi-chain future” without any particular smart contract platform ruling at all. “Ethereum is going to be around for at least a while, but there’s a lot of other smart contract platforms out there that haven’t stood the test of time yet,” he said.

As for where the crypto market is headed, Miller said that crypto volatility will decline when crypto applications become more “accepted, integrated, and used in our society,” adding:

“[By] bringing programmability and smart contracts to Bitcoin, it helps drive the further adoption of Bitcoin as both a technical and financial layer in our society, thereby driving down volatility while driving up the price in the long term.”